“Those, madam, who have read the Holy Scriptures, as I believe we all
have done, will acknowledge that what you have said is true. You must,
however, consider that we are not yet so mortified that we have not need
of some pastime and bodily exercise. When we are at home we have the
chase and hawking, which cause us to lay aside a thousand foolish
thoughts, and the ladies have their household cares, their work, and
sometimes the dance, in all which they find honourable exercise. So,
speaking on behalf of the men, I propose that you, who are the oldest,
read to us in the morning about the life that was led by Our Lord Jesus
Christ and the great and wonderful works that He did for us; and that
between dinner and vespers we choose some pastime that shall be pleasant
to the body and yet not hurtful to the soul. In this way we shall pass
the day cheerfully.”
The Lady Oisille replied that she had been at pains to forget every
description of worldly vanity, and she therefore feared that she should
succeed but ill in the choice of such an entertainment. The matter must
be decided by the majority of opinions, and she begged Hircan to set
forth his own first.
“For my part,” said he, “if I thought that the pastime I should choose
would be as agreeable to the company as to myself, my opinion would soon
be given. For the present, however, I withhold it, and will abide by
what the rest shall say.”
His wife Parlamente, thinking he referred to her, began to blush, and,
half in anger and half laughing, replied--
“Perhaps, Hircan, she who you think would find it most dull might
readily find means of compensation had she a mind for it. But let us
leave aside a pastime in which only two can share, and speak of one that
shall be common to all.”
“Since my wife has understood the meaning of my words so well,” said
Hircan to all the ladies, “and a private pastime is not to her liking, I
think she will be better able than any one else to name one that all
may enjoy; and I herewith give in to her opinion, having no other of my
own.”
To this all the company agreed.
Parlamente, perceiving that it had fallen to her to decide, spoke as
follows--
“Did I find myself as capable as the ancients who invented the arts, I
should devise some sport or pastime in fulfilment of the charge you
lay upon me. But knowing as I do my knowledge and capacity, which are
scarcely able to recall the worthy performances of others, I shall think
myself happy if I can follow closely such as have already satisfied your
request. Among the rest, I think there is not one of you who has not
read the Hundred Tales of Boccaccio, (11) lately translated from the
Italian into French. So highly were these thought of by King Francis,
first of that name, Monseigneur the Dauphin, (12) Madame the Dauphiness,
and Madame Margaret, that could Boccaccio have only heard them from the
place where he lay, the praise of such illustrious persons would have
raised him from the dead.
11 Margaret here alludes to the French translation of the
_Decameron_ made by her secretary, Anthony le Maçon, and
first issued in Paris in 1545. Messrs. De Lincy and
Montaiglon accordingly think that the prologue of the
_Heptameron_ was written subsequently to that date; but M.
Dillaye states that Le Maçon’s translation was circulated at
Court in manuscript long before it was printed. This
contention is in some measure borne out by Le Maçon’s
dedication to Margaret, of which the more interesting
passages are given in the Appendix to this volume (A).--ED.
12 The Dauphin here mentioned is Francis I.’s second son,
who subsequently reigned as Henry II. He became Dauphin by
the death of his elder brother on August 10, 1536. The
Dauphiness is Catherine de’ Medici, the wife of Henry, whom
he married in 1533; whilst Madame Margaret, according to M.
de Montaiglon, is the Queen of Navarre herself, she being
usually called by that name at her brother’s Court. M.
Dillaye, who is of a different opinion, maintains that the
Queen would not write so eulogistically of herself, and that
she evidently refers to her brother’s daughter, Margaret de
Berry, born in 1523, and married to the Duke of Savoy.--Ed.
Now I heard not long since that the two ladies I have mentioned,
together with several others of the Court, determined to do like
Boccaccio, with, however, one exception--they would not write any
story that was not a true one. And the said ladies, and Monseigneur the
Dauphin with them, undertook to tell ten stories each, and to assemble
in all ten persons, from among those whom they thought the most capable
of relating something. Such as had studied and were people of letters
were excepted, for Monseigneur the Dauphin would not allow of their art
being brought in, fearing lest the flowers of rhetoric should in some
wise prove injurious to the truth of the tales. But the weighty affairs
in which the King had engaged, the peace between him and the King of
England, the bringing to bed of the Dauphiness,(13) and many other
matters of a nature to engross the whole Court, caused the enterprise to
be entirely forgotten.
13 The confinement mentioned here is that of Catherine de
Medici, who, after remaining childless during ten years of
wedlock, gave birth to a son, afterwards Francis II., in
January 1543. The peace previously spoken of would appear to
be that signed at Crespy in September 1544. Both M. de
Montaiglon and M. Dillaye are of opinion, however, that a
word or two is deficient in the MS., and that Margaret
intended to imply the rupture of peace in 1543, when Henry
VIII. allied himself with the Emperor Charles V. against
Francis I.--Ed.
By reason, however, of our now great leisure, it can be accomplished in
ten days, whilst we wait for our bridge to be finished. If it so pleased
you, we might go every day from noon till four of the clock into yonder
pleasant meadow beside the river Gave. The trees there are so leafy that
the sun can neither penetrate the shade nor change the coolness to heat.
Sitting there at our ease, we might each one tell a story of something
we have ourselves seen, or heard related by one worthy of belief. At
the end of ten days we shall have completed the hundred,(14) and if
God wills it that our work be found worthy in the eyes of the lords and
ladies I have mentioned, we will on our return from this journey present
them with it, in lieu of images and paternosters,(15) and feeling
assured that they will hold this to be a more pleasing gift. If,
however, any one can devise some plan more agreeable than mine, I will
fall in with his opinion.”
14 This passage plainly indicates that the Queen meant to
pen a Decameron.--Ed.
15 This is an allusion to the holy images, medals, and
chaplets which people brought back with them from
pilgrimages.--B. J.
All the company replied that it was not possible to give better advice,
and that they awaited the morning in impatience, in order to begin.
Thus they spent that day joyously, reminding one another of what they
had seen in their time. As soon as the morning was come they went to
the room of Madame Oisille, whom they found already at her prayers. They
listened to her reading for a full hour, then piously heard mass, and
afterwards went to dinner at ten o’clock.(16)
16 At that period ten o’clock was the Court dinner-hour.
Fifty years earlier people used to dine at eight in the
morning. Louis XII., however, changed the hour of his meals
to suit his wife, Mary of England, who had been accustomed
to dine at noon.--B. J.
After dinner each one withdrew to his chamber, and did what he had to
do. According to their plan, at noon they failed not to return to the
meadow, which was so fair and pleasant that it would need a Boccaccio
to describe it as it really was; suffice to say that a fairer was never
seen.
When the company were all seated on the green grass, which was so
fine and soft that they needed neither cushion nor carpet, Simontault
commenced by saying--
“Which of us shall begin before the others?”
“Since you were the first to speak,” replied Hircan, “’tis reasonable
that you should rule us; for in sport we are all equal.”
“Would to God,” said Simontault, “I had no worse fortune in this world
than to be able to rule all the company present.”
On hearing this Parlamente, who well knew what it meant, began to
cough. Hircan, therefore, did not perceive the colour that came into her
cheeks, but told Simontault to begin, which he did as presently follows.
[Illustration: 039a.jpg Du Mesnil learns his Mistress’s Infidelity from her Maid]
[Du Mesnil learns his Mistress’s Infidelity from her Maid]
[Illustration: 039.jpg Page Image]